Pillar II of the Horizon Europe programme is particularly relevant to cities and regions, as it often provides targeted opportunities in circular economy advances. Even project development assistance for the Circular Cities and Regions Initiative is provided through specific calls in missions or in Clusters 4 to 6. In particular, Cluster 6 has a specific destination targeting circular economy and bioeconomy.

Horizon Europe is open to any legal entity based in the EU Member States and Associated Countries. Often, cooperation between at least three parties from three different countries is required (at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State and at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries).

Examples of common project types include:

1. Research and innovation actions;
2. Innovation actions;
3. and Coordination and support actions.

Themes include health, culture, creativity, society, civil security, digitalisation, industry, space, climate, energy and mobility, food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture, and environment. Missions are also part of Horizon Europe, with themes such as adaptation to climate change (including societal transformation), cancer, climate-neutral and smart cities, healthy oceans, seas, coastal and inland waters, and soil health and food.

€ 95.5 billion for the period 2021-2027

1. The European Commission publishes calls for proposals on the funding and tenders portal: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/
2. The call is open for a typical period of around five months, during which applicants can submit their proposal
3. Proposals can be single or two-stage application processes. A single-stage application process requires the filling in of a structured proposal of max. 45 pages, including objectives and innovation approach (excellence), tangible impacts that can be achieved through the project (impact), and project planning and tasks (quality). In a two-stage application process, the process described above would become the second-stage application, following a first stage involving a simplified proposal of max. 10 pages, including only excellence and impact sections. These documents are to be uploaded to the portal in PDF format. The respective parts of the portal must also be filled in with administrative information about the beneficiaries, affiliated entities or others. All participants in a project must possess a Participant Identification Code (PIC number, i.e. a 9-digit number registered on ECAS, the Commission's main authentication service).
4. Proposals submitted within the deadline will be evaluated by experts against evaluation criteria.
5. Winning proposals will be invited to sign a grant agreement with the Commission.

The deadline depends on the specific call. Typical deadline periods are September-October and February-April. The current Horizon Europe programme will run until 2027.